The Dark Side of Silicon Valley

Alongside high-tech businesses and the accompanying high paid salaries, Silicon Valley has one of the highest concentrations of toxic waste sites in the US. How this happened is a story that takes you the history of Silicon Valley and technology itself.

Source: Patrick Nouhailler_Flickr

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When you ponder real estate, at least in relation to Silicon Valley, you might be inclined to associate the area with rising real estate costs, income inequality, or the infamous buses that high-tech employees take to their jobs.

The Silicon Valley area

However, the truth about real estate in Silicon Valley is something entirely different, and significantly darker.
The Silicon Valley area (which is just one small part of the state of California) contains 29 sites designated as Superfund sites by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

By comparison, the entire state of Oklahoma has eight Superfund sites (as of 2010). Silicon Valley, alone, is beating an entire state’s record for contaminated sites—and this isn’t one of those numbers games that you want to be winning.